Friendship as a Form of Love

Eve Tushnet, Patheos

Can friends become family? Today we usually think that romantic love is the only kind of love which can create lasting, intimate, sacrificial relationships between adults. This wasn’t always the case. In traditional societies friendship and other fictive kinship (such as godparenthood) created true bonds which implied obligations and offered mutual support.

Without these lasting bonds, we’re putting too much pressure on marriage and parenthood to fill all of our emotional needs; this leaves both married couples and single people feeling isolated and pressured. In this talk, Eve explores the possible approaches to renewing friendship as a form of kinship, and discusses potential new problems we will face as this renewal takes hold.